UK prepares for military action in Syria

Britain is moving closer to a military intervention in Syria, with warplanes arriving in Cyprus.

Fighter jets and transporters have flown in to Britain’s Akrotiri airbase, located around 100 miles off the Syrian coast, after a chemical assault killed hundreds in eastern Damascus last Wednesday.

Prime Minister David Cameron will chair a meeting with the National Security Council tomorrow, and is considering recalling MPs to gain parliamentary consent for a military intervention.

Mr Cameron told Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday that he believed “there was little doubt that this was an attack carried out by the Syrian regime,” after Mr Putin claimed that there was not enough evidence to draw conclusions.

Foreign Secretary William Hague also said on Saturday that: “We are clear in the British government that it was the Assad regime that carried out this chemical attack.”

America and France are also said to be convinced that the Syrian government cannot be allowed to escape punishment, with US President Barack Obama joining Mr Cameron in threatening a “serious response”.

The Guardian has claimed that an attack by Western forces would target government strongholds, since hitting the regime’s supply of chemical weapons could endanger the lives of civilians in the area.